Duende

The autobiography-as-travelogue that is also a rite of passage is a form which worked brilliantly for Laurie Lee and Bruce Chatwin - both novelists as well as seekers after the truth-behind-the-truth. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new star of the genre: Jason Webster * Daily Mail *
His descriptions of troubled modern day Spain are mesmerising, but the greater curiosity is in seeing just how much trouble the confused innocent can create for himself before finding out whom he might really be * Daily Express *
Wonderfully told, with enough detail about flamenco to educate the curious, and enough drama and characters to fill a novel, Webster may not have turned out to be a guitar maestro, but his journey is recounted like a master * Wanderlust *
Duende is an intensely personal portrait of a country in the throes of modernisation, whose spirit still defies definition * Observer *
One of the best books ever written about Spain * Literary Review *
A powerful, dangerous book that should win many prizes * Conde Nast Traveller *
I found his descriptions of the Flamenco underworld irresistible… I couldn’t put it down – Chris Stewart, author of Driving Over Lemons
An impressive debut… Duende sweeps along from one harmonious chord to the next and builds into a crescendo that is as rich in atmosphere and emotion as the world it seeks to portray… What it does most successfully is describe a young man’s rite of passage through a foreign culture, a journey from which he emerges with a greater understanding of his subject and considerably wiser about the nature of human relationships. We sill be lucky if we see many such passionate and evocative travel books this year * The Sunday Times *
Fascinating… The best travel writing is not about topography but people, and Webster’s infiltration of this notoriously closed community makes for compulsive reading… Webster is an exceptional writer, and this is a great book * Guardian *
Jason Webster may have started out by hoping that flamenco would provide him with a means of creative expression, but by the end it very much looks as if he has found his true voice as a writer * Sunday Telegraph *

Brought up in England, Jason Webster has lived for many years in Spain. His acclaimed non-fiction books about Spain include Duende- A Journey in Search of Flamenco; Andalus- Unlocking the Secrets of Moorish Spain; Guerra- Living in the Shadows of the Spanish Civil War; Sacred Sierra- A Year on a Spanish Mountain and The Spy with 29 Names. His Max Camara series of crime novels started with Or the Bull Kills You, which was longlisted for the CWA Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards New Blood Dagger 2011. This was followed by A Death in Valencia, The Anarchist Detective, Blood Med and A Body in Barcelona.

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